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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — For five months, the demand has echoed across Louisville and around the country: "Arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor."
On Wednesday, they got their answer.
A Jefferson County grand jury Wednesday indicted Brett Hankison, 44, on three counts of first-degree wanton endangerment. Jurors said several bullets he fired outside Taylor's apartment March 13 went into a neighboring unit where a pregnant woman, a man and a child were home.
But neither he nor two other Louisville officers who fired their weapons at Taylor's apartment — Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove — were charged with killing Taylor, an unarmed Black woman.
And Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron made it clear he expects no further criminal charges to be filed in connection with the events at Taylor's apartment that night.
Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, was shot six times by the officers and died in the hallway of her South Louisville apartment during an attempted LMPD search for drugs and cash that went horribly wrong.
Live updates: Follow along as protesters march across Louisville's streets
The Breonna Taylor case: Everything you need to know and the latest news here
Immediately after the 1:15 p.m. announcement Wednesday, protesters at downtown's Jefferson Square expressed their frustration and began to march through downtown. Trash can fires were lit in the evening as several hundred people marched through the city.
For Taylor's family, attorneys and the protesters who have taken to Louisville's streets for 119 consecutive days, the grand jury's indictment was a bitter disappointment.
A week after celebrating the city of Louisville's $12 million settlement with Taylor's family that included more than a dozen police reforms, emotions tumbled.
"If Brett Hankison's behavior was wanton endangerment to people in neighboring apartments, then it should have been wanton endangerment in Breonna Taylor's apartment too," family attorney Ben Crump wrote on Twitter.
"In fact, it should have been ruled wanton murder!"
But Cameron, whose office has been investigating the officers' conduct at Taylor's apartment for four months, pushed back. In a televised news conference from Frankfort, he said the criminal justice system "isn't the quest for revenge," and he cautioned those angered by the outcome.
"Our reaction to the truth today says what kind of society we want to be: Do we really want the truth, or do we want a truth that fits our narrative? Do we want the facts, or are we content to blindly accept our own version of events?"
Later Wednesday, President Donald Trump called Cameron "brilliant" and commended his handling of the case, applauding the attorney general's statement that "justice is not often easy."
"I said, 'Write that down for me, please, 'cause I think it was a terrific statement,'" the president said in an evening news conference.
What to know: Key takeaways from AG Daniel Cameron's investigation on the Breonna Taylor case
At 4:30 p.m. Hankison was booked into the Shelby County jail. He was released by 5:02 p.m. after posting $15,000 cash bond.
Stewart Mathews, a Cincinnati attorney, is representing Hankison and said Cameron did "an excellent job" describing his handling of the case and its conclusions.
"He said he presented the evidence to the grand jury and didn't try to influence them one way or another, which I appreciate very much, based on prior cases I've been involved with in the past where that was not necessarily the case from the prosecutors," Stewart said.
Hankison will be entering a not guilty plea, Stewart said.
Wanton endangerment is a Class D felony and carries a penalty of one to five years in prison. The grand jury charges Jefferson Circuit Judge Annie O'Connell read said that Hankison "wantonly shot a gun" into Apartment 3 next to Taylor's unit.
The occupants who Hankison is charged with threatening with his errant shots were identified by their initials. None of them was BT — Breonna Taylor.
Breonna Taylor decision: What is wanton endangerment, the charge one Louisville officer faces?
Breonna Taylor shooting: A minute-by-minute timeline of the events that led to her death
'I can't make it make sense'
Those same bullets cost Hankison his job in June. LMPD interim Chief Robert Schroeder fired him for "blindly" shooting 10 rounds into Taylor's apartment and the adjoining unit.
Crime scene photos from the aftermath of the shooting show the neighbor's shattered sliding glass door, with at least five bullet holes puncturing the glass, vertical blinds and curtains, while five more rounds went through a covered bedroom window.
Those bullets also penetrated into Apartment 3, where the patio door at the back of the apartment was shattered. A clock on the wall was struck twice, and the dining table was hit at least once, photos showed.
None of the three residents was injured, but they did file a May lawsuit against the LMPD officers claiming the shots were "blindly fired" and nearly hit a man inside. Chelsey Napper was pregnant and had a child in the apartment at the time, according to the lawsuit.
Attorneys for Taylor's family expressed dismay and confusion at the grand jury's conclusion.
"I can't make it make sense in my head," attorney Lonita Baker wrote on Facebook. "Wanton endangerment to a neighboring apartment constitutes wanton endangerment to Breonna."
Sam Aguiar, Baker's co-counsel, added "way to really rub it in" and apologized to Taylor's family members.
"Three counts for the shots into the apartment of the white neighbors, but no counts for the shots into the apartment of the Black neighbors upstairs above Breonna's. Let alone everything else you got wrong," Aguiar wrote.
"This isn't right, and I should've done more."
Crime scene photos indicate at least one bullet traveled through the ceiling of Taylor's apartment and into the one upstairs.
Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer, had previously pushed Cameron "to get all the facts, to get the truth and to get justice for Breonna."
She said after an August meeting with Cameron that she was more confident after meeting with him that "truth will come out and that justice will be served."
But on Wednesday, a visibly upset Palmer traveled to Cameron's announcement in Frankfort and left without commenting. Attorneys for the Taylor family said they would not be talking or issuing a statement.
Taylor's sister, Juniyah Palmer, posted a picture on Instagram of her with Breonna, saying, "Sister, I am so sorry."
Background: Kentucky's self-defense laws negated possible homicide charges in Breonna Taylor's death
More: Breonna Taylor's family dismayed by decision: 'I'm mad as hell because nothing's changing'
Cameron said he'd met with family members of Taylor's before his press conference, calling it a hard and difficult meeting, but he declined to share specifics.
"I certainly understand the pain that has been brought about by the tragic loss of Ms. Taylor," he said.
"I understand that as a Black man, how painful this is. Which is why it was so incredibly important to make sure that we did everything we possibly could to uncover every fact."
Who killed Breonna Taylor?
Cameron said the grand jury decided homicide charges were not applicable because the investigation showed Mattingly and Cosgrove were justified in shooting back after they were fired upon by Kenneth Walker, Taylor's boyfriend.
Walker has said he didn't know police were on the other side of the door when officers used a battering ram to bust it in.
In total, police fired 32 shots into Taylor's apartment.
From the doorway, Mattingly fired six shots and Cosgrove fired 16 "in a matter of seconds," according to Cameron's investigation. From outside, Hankison shot 10 more.
Of the six shots that struck Taylor, Cameron said only one was fatal. (He noted the sixth shot was a "projectile" lodged in one of Taylor's feet, despite her death certificate listing five shots as the cause of death.)
A Kentucky State Police analysis did not identify which of the three officers fired the fatal shot, but the FBI crime lab concluded it came from Cosgrove. Cameron said this creates a "reasonable doubt" of who actually killed Taylor.
Cameron noted there was "nothing conclusive to say" that any of Hankison's 10 shots hit Taylor.
The attorney general also rebutted the idea, suggested by Walker's civil attorney, that Mattingly was struck in his femoral artery by friendly fire. The officers fired .40-caliber handguns; Mattingly was struck by a 9 mm round.
"Justice is not often easy and does not fit the mold of public opinion. And it does not conform to shifting standards," Cameron said. "I know that not everyone will be satisfied with the charges we've reported today."
Cameron also said his investigation did not delve into the process of obtaining the warrant that led police to break down Taylor's door. Instead, federal law enforcement is examining that aspect of the case and any potential civil rights violations.
Cameron, a Republican elected in November as the commonwealth's top law enforcement official, announced he would create a task force to "review the process for securing, reviewing and executing search warrants in Kentucky."
'They deserve to know more'
Gov. Andy Beshear, a former attorney general before being elected governor in November, called on Cameron to make as much of his office's findings public as possible.
"Everyone can and should be informed, and those that are currently feeling frustration, feeling hurt, they deserve to know more," he said. "I trust Kentuckians. They deserve to see the facts for themselves, and I believe that the ability to process those facts helps everybody."
State Rep. Charles Booker, who ran for U.S. Senate in the Democratic primary to unseat Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, said "justice failed us today."
"It failed us in a way that it has been failing us for generations," he said.
There is no justifying Taylor's death at the hands of police, he said. Booker has participated in the ongoing demonstrations in Louisville.
"Keep demanding change … but don't be quiet, don't slow down, and most importantly, lean in with love," he said. "Breonna, thank you for being the light. We'll keep fighting to honor your name."
'Is that it?'
As the grand jury's decision was announced around 1:15 p.m., around 200 protesters gathered at Jefferson Square Park to listen to the judge's words over a loudspeaker.
At first, there was confusion, then anger from those gathered.
"Is that it?" one woman asked.
Protesters almost immediately began chanting, "No justice, no peace." Several cried at the grand jury decision.
"I'm heartbroken," Logan Cleaver, a protester, said Wednesday immediately after the grand jury's decision was announced. "This is not a justice system if it's not for everybody."
At Taylor's former apartment complex, resident Renee Pruitt said Wednesday's wanton endangerment charges amounted to a "slap on the wrist."
Pruitt, 39, a health care worker was there with her children the night Taylor was shot, awaking to gunfire. She was among those who called 911.
Her apartment was upstairs from Taylor across an open stairwell. It wasn't hit, but others were — which she said was terrifying.
Standing outside a shrine of poems, flowers, a Black Lives Matter sign and artwork of Taylor, Pruitt said she learned of the grand jury's decision while working downtown, before they were sent home for possible unrest.
"My head just dropped," she said. "You blindly shot into this apartment, and not to mention other peoples' and you get three counts of wanton endangerment?
"Breonna deserves more than that."
In anticipation of Cameron's announcement, Fischer invoked a 72-hour curfew, effective Wednesday night, from 9 p.m. to 6:30 a.m.
The uncertainty swirling around the decision has drawn both local and international attention as protesters have marched and chanted on Louisville's streets for 119 consecutive days.
Protesters in Louisville and supporters across the U.S. have called for "justice for Breonna" and other Black Americans, such as George Floyd in Minneapolis, who have been killed by police.
Taylor's death and the ensuing protests have been showcased in news reports and in public statements by celebrities, athletes, sports leagues and politicians from Joe Biden to Beyonce to LeBron James, all calling for justice and the arrest of the officers who shot the unarmed Louisville woman.
In the past week, the tension escalated to an unnerving pitch as national network crews arrived in Louisville and rumors spread wildly that a decision was imminent, only to be proven wrong again and again.
Wednesday's announcement comes as images of a restricted downtown Louisville have flashed across the world.
Schroeder said the restrictions, long planned amid "unprecedented times," were meant to protect public safety, property, protesters and avoid conflicts between drivers and demonstrators.
Protesters will still be able to access downtown on foot to demonstrate and retain their First Amendment rights, city officials said.
"I hope all of this is not needed," Schroeder said.
Through it all, Cameron has stayed quiet. Until the decision came down.
Reporters Morgan Watkins and Chris Kenning contributed to this story. Tessa Duvall: 502-582-4059; firstname.lastname@example.com; Twitter: @TessaDuvall. Darcy Costello: 502-582-4834; email@example.com; Twitter: @dctello.
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subset: commoncrawl


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To be honest, I seldom watch the cable news shows anymore because they're too slow compared to the blogosphere. Usually, these shows mainly consist of the hot story of the day repeated ad nauseum, material the blogosphere covered days earlier, guests spinning and being asked questions primarily designed not to allow them to inform, but to trip them up, and fluff like the hot, white chick of the day who has been kidnapped.
That really is only tangentially related to this post, which engages in some of the same sins that the cable networks normally do, but I felt the need to vent. In any case, the point was that someone told me one of the hot stories recently was Jennifer Love Hewitt and her "fat" pictures.
Which fat pictures you ask? Don't you want to ask that? Because if you do ask that, it means I get to show you her bikini shots — and not for a prurient reason, because she's hot, but because it's news!
So, since you asked, wink, wink, here are the shots that have prompted people to call Jennifer Love Hewitt fat, courtesy of Egotastic!,
Is Jennifer Love Hewitt fat? Only by the unrealistic standards of bony fashion models who look like they might eat half a finger sandwich every 3 or 4 days — which is pretty much the point that Hewitt made,
"A size 2 is not fat! Nor will it ever be. And being a size 0 doesn't make you beautiful. …
Agreed. In fact, do you want to know a little secret? Although some ultra skinny women can pull off that look, most men would far prefer a woman who looks like Hewitt to a twin of hers, who was say, 25 pounds lighter and flatter.
But really, these unrealistic standards of beauty have become pretty commonplace. For example, not too long ago, Maxim put out a list of the Five Unsexiest Women Alive that included, among others, I kid you not, Britney Spears, Amy Winehouse, & Sarah Jessica Parker.
If that's your idea of hideously ugly then well…Ok, let's be honest, it isn't your idea of hideously ugly. That's just something internet dorks pop off about because no one in real life would ever sit around with their buddies at work, telling them that the girl in the next cubicle, who looks exactly like Britney Spears, is some sort of hideous cow — or would they?
Which brings me to a theory I have about the internet becoming a major factor in the decline of birthrates in the West. Let me explain.
Imagine that you were alive a couple of hundred years ago. There was no TV back then, no internet, no glossy women's mags, no Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, nothing. There were also no cars or airplanes, which meant that it was much more difficult to travel.
Long story short, the average man or woman got to see, meet, and talk to, at least compared to today, a very small number of people. Because of that, it was much easier, again comparatively, for someone to be considered a knockout, an incredible conversationalist, or a potentially suitable mate, because the pool of talent was so much smaller.
But today, people aren't just competing with the people in their town, they're competing in looks and personality with movie stars, super models, and winners from all across the country.
When a man thinks to himself, "Is she attractive," he's not just comparing the woman in question to people that live in his town, he's comparing her to Mariah Carey, Natalie Portman, the hot model he saw in a toothpaste commercial, and every other woman he finds attractive.
When a woman thinks to herself, "Does he have a great personality," she's not just comparing him to people that live in her town, she's comparing him to her favorite TV star and the guy she has been talking to from across the country on instant messenger.
All this leads to is unrealistic expectations, declining birthrates, and people calling Jennifer Love Hewitt fat — at least that's my theory.


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Daron Diepenbruck and Josh Apsey were members of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment — called "America's Battalion." NPR followed that battalion in 2009, on the homefront and in battle in Afghanistan. The two Marines are back home now. One left the military; the other stayed in. Their lives have changed dramatically, as Catherine Welch found out.
Daron Diepenbruck was on his last deployment when something happened that changed his life. One of his good friends was out on patrol.
"He was actually on the corner of the building and got hit by an IED," or improvised explosive device, Diepenbruck says.
He heard the blast on his radio. His friend had been killed.
Two weeks passed, and Diepenbruck's platoon set up camp in the same building where his friend died. They arrived at night. When the sun came up, he saw where it happened.
"There was a hole where he got hit, and there was still blood on the ground," he says.
I have nightmares quite a bit. I mean, I'll go through like five or six, and I'll just wake up and stay up because I know I'm not going to be able to get to sleep that night.
There was a lot of blood and debris. He found scraps of his friend's flak jacket. It was a mess.
"The first couple of times when you pass by it, you just kind of sit there for what might be 15 seconds, 30 seconds, a minute and a half, and you just kind of stare at it and you're like, 'Wow. That's the spot,' " he says.
That was more than two years ago. As it turned out, it was Diepenbruck's last tour to Afghanistan. Now he's half a world away, back in his hometown of Bowling Green, Ohio.
He still has a military haircut, but he sports a soul patch on his chin, wears ripped jeans and cowboy boots, and his arms are loaded with tattoos. His left forearm is covered with the helmet, rifle and boots to honor those who have died on the battlefield. It's mostly for his friends. He has lost so many that he has to stop and count.
"It'd be 13, 14, and then I've had a couple of friends in the Army that have passed. I'd probably put at about 22, 23," he says.
All of those deaths weigh on him, but seeing the spot where his friend died — that's what changed him.
"I have nightmares quite a bit. I mean, I'll go through like five or six, and I'll just wake up and stay up because I know I'm not going to be able to get to sleep that night," Diepenbruck says.
Lingering Anger
He says when he got out of the Marines and moved in with his parents, his temper kicked in. His parents got the brunt of it.
"When I was living at home, that was one of the main reasons I wanted to move out, because we were fighting almost every day," Diepenbruck says. "They'd say something to me, and it would automatically spark me up, and then I went with it ... nothing physical, fortunately."
So he got his own place. Diepenbruck also used to love painting, sculpture and pottery. Now he says he can't focus long enough to draw a simple chair. His dream before the Marine Corps was to become an art teacher. That's gone.
"Honestly, I don't think I have the patience for it anymore. With my temper being the way it is, I kind of get a little edgy at times, and I don't know how well that would work," he says.
To keep busy, Diepenbruck is taking some college courses at Bowling Green University. But his old life still intrudes. He was in class one day when he learned a Marine buddy had lost a leg in Afghanistan.
"I actually got a text message from my buddy. I pulled out my phone, looked at it," he says. "I ... just stopped for a second, just looked up and ... looked around. My teacher actually walked over to me, and he was like, 'Are you all right?' "
'I Miss The Combat'
Actually, Diepenbruck is not sure he's all right. He thinks he's suffering from post-traumatic stress. He is not getting treatment. He was told he needs anti-depressants, but they're expensive and he doesn't have insurance.
He wants to see if the government will recognize his trauma as a disability. In the meantime, he's piecing together his own therapy. He talks a lot about what happened with his friends who either were in the military or are still in the military.
When asked how he is dealing with things, he says alcohol helps. When he's not in class, he sits at the bar across the street from campus. He's there most weekends, too, watching football.
He has a girlfriend, but his closest friends, the ones he hung out with every night, are still in the Marines.
Even though he lost more than 20 friends and is no longer the person he was when he enlisted, Diepenbruck says he sometimes wishes he could be back on the battlefield.
"Honestly, I miss the combat, I miss all the guys. I miss being a part of something bigger, something there that's changing the world," he says.
Sept. 11 Inspired Service
There's another Marine from America's Battalion who also signed up to be a part of something bigger. His name is Josh Apsey.
When he first spoke to NPR back in 2009, he was a teenager. He was waiting to get on a plane for his first deployment to Afghanistan.
"My mother, she got me a journal and inserted a few pictures in there, and she's written me a few letters. And then I have pictures of my girlfriend and letters from her, as well. And then I have a Bible that I keep all that in right now," he said.
Apsey was just a boy on Sept. 11, 2001, but it inspired him to join the Marines.
His first deployment was a personal mission, as he put it, to face the evil that brought down the twin towers.
By his second deployment earlier this year, the romanticism of a noble cause was gone. What was left was the need to survive.
"My position was changed. I was in charge of Marines, and I had to make sure they were all right," he says. "I really understood, I was like, 'Wow, I could very well have died like so many other Marines did.' There was real danger there."
Ultimately About Money
During this second deployment, Apsey had to decide whether he would re-enlist. Before the deployment, he thought for sure he'd get out. But Apsey had a lot of time in Afghanistan to think about his future.
"I got real with the situation, and I said, OK, if I got out, what am I going to do? What am I going to do for money? What are the things I need to pay for?" he says.
So he did re-enlist. He was 21 years old and just married. At the end of the day, it came down to a paycheck.
Now a corporal, he gets up early every morning and checks in at the Quantico Marine Corps Base in Virginia, where he shows new officers how to fire a mortar.
Most days he's home by noon.
Home is an old farmhouse where he lives with his wife and their two dogs. It's tucked away in a rural area at the end of a dirt road. They just moved in, don't know their neighbors and don't have any friends yet. There's not much to do but hang around the house.
"I have my gear in here, my uniform stuff, a futon if we have guests, and then I have my video games, all my DVDs," he says.
He has a room where he slinks off after work to play video games. He has covered the only window with an Afghan flag, keeping things dark. The flag is a souvenir from his earlier deployments, part of that time in his life when he felt that what he did was important.
Something Has Changed
He doesn't know if it's the abrupt transition from combat in Afghanistan to the routine of job and family that has changed him — but something has.
"Sometimes I just feel like I'm a robot, I'm just going through all the motions but I'm not mentally and emotionally there, he says.
He has noticed that he's lost the ability to care.
"I understand when things are sad, and I know they're sad, and I'm sad for them," he says, "but I can't really break down and cry about it. I can't really grasp situations and react the way I should."
It frustrates him that he can't put his finger on why he's changed so much from the idealistic 18-year-old who went off to war not so long ago.
Apsey is getting counseling through the Marines, and his mother says she thinks it's working. He's home visiting for the holidays, and she says she can definitely see that he's improving.
In 2009, when Diepenbruck and Apsey were off in Afghanistan, all their parents wanted was for them to come home safe. Now that they have some perspective, they realize that the sons they sent off to war did not come back as the same people. The war changed them.
Copyright 2021 The Public's Radio. To see more, visit The Public's Radio.


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The man charged with slaughtering six of his ex-wife's relatives in their Texas home Wednesday had a turbulent relationship with her and had been arrested for domestic-related charges in 2008, police records show.
Ron Lee Haskell, 33, was looking for his ex-wife, Melannie Haskell, when he forced his way into her relatives' home in the Houston suburb of Spring, police said. Haskell allegedly tied up five children — two boys, 4 and 13, and three girls, 7, 9 and 15 — as well as two adults, identified as husband-and-wife Stephen Stay, 39, and Katie Stay, 33. Each of them were shot execution-style in the back of the head, according to court documents.
The 15-year-old girl survived and called 911, later identifying the shooter as her ex-uncle, the documents said.
Police tracked down Ron Lee Haskell and arrested him after a more than three-hour standoff just after 10 p.m. local time.
A domestic dispute apparently drove Haskell to track down his ex-wife in Texas, although she wasn't at the home at the time of the slayings. Their marriage was suffering from problems as early as 2008, when the couple was living in Cache County, Utah.
That year, Haskell was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence, simple assault and committing an act of violence in front of children. Melannie Haskell told police her husband dragged her out of their bedroom by her hair and hit her in the side of the head.
Haskell said he had only pushed his wife, and that he was stressed from his job. The couple's children were ages 3 and 5 at the time. Haskell pleaded guilty to an assault charge.
In 2009, Haskell told police that his wife had left and he believed she was going to harm herself. He followed up, and said he found his wife and was taking her to the hospital, records show.
Then, a year ago, Melannie Haskell filed for an order of protection against him. A judge granted the order, and she filed for divorce the following month.
The divorce was an anguishing time for Haskell. His brother in California contacted police, records show, and asked them to perform a welfare check because he was worried he might hurt himself. The brother later called back and told police he spoke with him and that they didn't need to investigate.
In October, the protective order was dismissed when the Haskells agreed to a mutual restraining order in the divorce and custody arrangements involving their children. The judge also said Ron Lee Haskell's visits would be supervised by a psychologist.
"Mr. Haskell's parent time will be supervised until such time that his physical therapist can report that the respondent is no longer a threat to the children," the judge wrote.
A relative told NBC News he had been living quietly with his parents in California since his divorce.
"It's very devastating for the whole family," the relative said. "They just don't know how this happened."
Haskell is charged with multiple counts of capital murder. According to Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Ron Hickman, he arrived at the Spring home "in the guise of a FedEx driver wearing a FedEx shirt." Federal Express said in a statement that Haskell had "formerly provided service" for the company, but has not done so since January.
Only the 15-year-old girl was home at the time, and when Haskell realized his ex-wife wasn't there, he kicked in the door to gain entrance, she later told police. He tied the girl up, and then also tied up the other victims when they later arrived home.
Hickman said that after Haskell left the home the injured teenage girl contacted authorities telling them the shooter was en route to shoot other family members.
Law enforcement personnel located Haskell's car and a low-speed chase ensued, ending in a cul-de-sac, Hickman said. A standoff then lasted more than three hours before Haskell exited the car, sank to his knees and surrendered.
Online jail records did not list an attorney for Haskell.
The sheriff's department said precinct deputy constables were called to the house about 6 p.m. Wednesday and found the couple and three children dead. Another child later died at a hospital.
Harris County Sheriff's Deputy Thomas Gilliland said the surviving 15-year-old girl was in "very critical condition" at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston late Wednesday night.
Gilliland described Haskell after the standoff as "cool as a cucumber." He said that when he and other officers first approached, Haskell was "just sitting in his car looking out at us."
Hickman said Haskell surrendered without resistance.
"He was in the car for 3-1/2 hours. He was worn down like the rest of us," he said.
NBC News' Erik Ortiz and The Associated Press contributed to this report.


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Chairman's Awards for Advancement in Accessibility
The Chairman's AAA are intended to encourage technological innovation in communication-related areas and to recognize engineers, researchers and other technologists whose energies and perseverance have been successful in crafting innovative ways for consumers with disabilities to benefit from our nation's communications technologies. Awards were presented for the development of mainstream or assistive technologies, the development of standards, and the implementation of best practices that foster accessibility. The award recipients were selected by staff from the FCC's Accessibility and Innovation Initiative (A&I Initiative). The A&I Initiative seeks to facilitate dialogue among industry, assistive technology companies, app developers, government representatives and consumers to allow these stakeholders to share best practices and solutions for accessible communications technologies.
This event also included a demonstration of the FCC's new Accessibility Clearinghouse, which is required by the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Programming Accessibility Act (CVAA).
Related Information
- News Release: Genachowski and Copps Present AAA Awards
- News Release: Statement of Commissioner Clyburn on Winners of AAA Awards
- News Release: Chairman's Awards for Advancement in Accessibility Set for Oct. 28


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Of course, being me, I am not sure.
I may just change the way I do things on the blog (which some feedback has convinced me is necessary) and cut back on how often I post.
SCISSION provides progressive news and analysis from the breaking point of Capital. SCISSION represents an autonomist Marxist viewpoint. The struggle against white skin privilege and white supremacy is key. --- "You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness. In this case, it comes from nonconformity, the courage to turn your back on the old formulas, the courage to invent the future." FIGHT WHITE SUPREMACY, SAVE THE EARTH
Slavery in the United States of America was based far less on force than on the English cotton industry; in those districts where no cotton was grown or which, unlike the borders states, did not breed slaves for the cotton-growing states, it died out of itself without any force being used, simply because it did not pay.
At the conclusion of the interview, Baptist offers up a beautiful and direct observation about the relationship between whiteness, white supremacy, and America's original sin of black chattel slavery.
He observes:
As a historian, do you feel that slavery is an original sin that the United States will never be able to overcome? Or is there some seed of hope in what you're writing?
Let's think about original sin. Original sin is something that, theologically, we can never escape, because we're not angels, right? We can't stop being human beings and start being angels. But we can stop being white. By that I mean, not that we can change our pigmentation, but that we can stop consciously and unconsciously demanding the privileges of whiteness, and we can act in affirmative ways to undermine the privileges of whiteness. And that's the way that the country will get past it, by abandoning white supremacy as a constitutive way in which our politics and our economics and our culture were ordered.
This is not something that's going to happen tomorrow; it's not going to happen, obviously, because we elected Barack Obama, or something like that. It's a far, far deeper set of transformations. That's how we can move to the point where we can see that the country has redeemed itself in some ways from this legacy.
Black and brown folks possess an almost preternatural understanding of whiteness and the dynamics of white racial identity because those are required skills for successfully negotiating life in a society structured around the maintenance and furthering of white supremacy. However, our truth-telling is usually ignored by most white folks because the bubble of Whiteness, by definition, is almost wholly immune to interventions made by those outside of it.
Ultimately, as I told Janice Graham on Our Common Grounds, I am of the belief that white Americans need to clean up their own house of white privilege and white supremacy from within. It is white people who need to do some truth-telling to their white brothers and sisters about the social evils of white supremacy and white privilege if those forces are ever to be fully purged from American life, culture, and society.
While black and brown people may suffer from and under white racism and white supremacy, it is White America that possesses the philosophical and moral problem that is white racism.
In thinking about the existential conundrum that is the color line's relationship to black Americans, the brilliant W.E.B. Du Bois asked, "how does it feel to be a problem?"
White folks are rarely asked, "what does it feel like to be The problem?"
Baptist's closing observations in his interview at Salon about American slavery and whiteness are a good start from which to formulate an answer to that question. Noel Ignatiev's incisive claim that "treason to Whiteness is loyalty to humanity" is more than a slogan. Rather, it is a life mantra.
Perhaps Baptist's soft, yet piercing like a dagger comments should be a footnote or auxiliary guide to helping white folks come to terms with their relationship to how the past lives in the present in an American society that is still structured around maintaining white supremacy.
"Not long after they heard the first clink of iron, the boys and girls in the cornfield would have been able to smell the grownups' bodies, perhaps even before they saw the double line coming around the bend. Hurrying in locked step, the thirty-old men came down the dirt road like a giant machine. Each hauled twenty pounds of iron, chains that draped from neck to neck and wrist-to-wrist, binding them all together. Ragged strips flapped stiffly from their clothes like dead-air pennants. On the men's heads, hair stood out in growing dreads or lay in dust-caked mats. As they moved, some looked down like catatonics. Others stared at something a thousand yards ahead. And now, behind the clanking men, followed a marching crowd of women loosely roped, the same vacancy in their expressions, endurance standing out in the rigid strings of muscle that had replaced their calves in the weeks since they left Maryland. Behind them all swayed a white man on a gray walking horse."


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This class is about preparing ourselves, balancing ourselves and loving ourselves when we encounter one of the toughest experiences we'll ever endure: the passing of a loved one.
This class is full of gems of wisdom, warmth, kindness and hope. And it's full of yoga's profound secrets for healing and integrating ourselves when were in the midst of caring for someone who is passing into the infinite.
Andrew has put this class together as a result of his vast experiences with refugees in war zones, helping them heal the emotional trauma left after violence. The techniques have been tried and tested with his own experiences of the passing of his parents, and similar experiences of many of his friends and colleagues. This class is part of his upcoming online course on Living with Dying, a yoga perspective on helping a loved one through the end of their life.
Having recently lost his own father, Andrew is well aware of the challenges we all face when it comes to looking after loved ones 'in transition'. However, he also recognises that this is the most important time to keep a watchful eye on one more important person: ourself. As we all know, at times like this, we need all the help we can get. We hope you will find this session helpful - a healing balm to help in the process of caring and recovering from loosing someone you love.
Activation session including 'shake out', side bends, dynamic twist and 'cross-crawling' movements. When experiencing emotional turmoil, the left and right hemispheres of the brain can get out of sync. These light hearted movements trigger a 're-wiring' of the whole system.
Energy Block Release 1
A sensitive presentation of a familiar sequence to Dru Yoga, Energy Block Release 1. During the long hours, days and weeks of caring for the needs of others, we often put our needs on the back burner. Yet, more than ever, we need to look after our own body. Use this version of EBR 1 to help clear blockages in the muscular and cellular make-up of the body.
EBR 1 includes the following:
- A simple standing visualisation for grounding the body
- Side bends and finger flicks - use the sideways stretch to release tension in the chest
- Standing stretch
- Shoulder and arm rotations - release tension in the shoulders and activate the heart
- Neck movements - extend the upper vertebrae
- Standing twist - release tension in the spine
- Spinal wave with forward and backward bend - use this movement to free old stuck memories
- Forward bend with leg stretch and squat
The Breath of Arjuna
Breathing properly is a vital tool for releasing the body of deep anxiety that we tend to hold on to during these times. Practise equal ratio breathing as this enhances the healing process. In addition, add a 'power word' to help focus your mind on a positive emotion, e.g. 'appreciation', 'love' or 'peace.'
Warrior 1 and 2
Use these strong postures to localise areas of tension in the body where we hold grief at a cellular level - especially around the heart. Use your awareness and intention to raise and release tension. Repeat this movement to the right and the left until you feel your heart centre begin to warm.
The Earth Sequence
This unique Dru sequence is the ultimate stress-buster. It is powerful sequence that helps to release the magnitude of nature within you, replenishing your whole body.
Take the opportunity to enjoy a well-deserved rest! This dynamic relaxation called 'waves of peace' is designed to effect the cerebral spinal fluid which control the healing forces that link the body and the brain.
This healing programme concludes with a guided meditation. Bring your awareness down to the base chakra and allow yourself to experience a sense of balance and deep inner peace.
To learn more about the base chakra click here to go through to our blog.


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Blue light irradiation promotes growth, increases antioxidants in lettuce seedlings
The quality of agricultural seedlings is important to crop growth and yield after transplantation. Good quality seedlings exhibit characteristics such as thick stems, thick leaves, dark green leaves, and large white roots. Scientists have long known that plant development and physiology are strongly influenced by the light spectrum, which affects seedling structure. Raising seedlings irradiated with blue light has been shown to increase crop yield after planting because of the high accumulation of phenolic compounds. Although most studies with blue light only or blue mixed with red light have indicated that blue light-containing irradiation produces higher plant biomass, recent research has suggested that yield and crop quality could be improved by controlling light quality.
Researchers from Japan's Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry premiered a study in HortScience that determined the effects of raising seedlings with different light spectra—such as with blue, red, and blue + red LED lights—on seedling quality and yield of red leaf lettuce plants. Photosynthetic pigments, polyphenols, and antioxidant activity of lettuce seedlings treated with different light spectra were also determined.
The team performed experiments in which pregerminated seeds of red leaf lettuce were subjected to various light treatments using blue and red light for one week. At the end of the light treatment (17 days after sowing), the leaf area and shoot fresh weight of the lettuce seedlings treated with red light increased by 33% and 25%, respectively, and the dry weight of the shoots and roots of the lettuce seedlings treated with blue-containing LED lights increased by greater than 29% and greater than 83% compared with seedlings grown under a white fluorescent lamp. The shoot/root ratio and specific leaf area of plants irradiated with blue-containing LED lights decreased.
At 45 days after sowing (DAS), higher leaf areas and shoot fresh weight were obtained in lettuce plants treated with blue-containing LED lights. "The total chlorophyll contents in lettuce plants treated with blue-containing and red lights were less than that of lettuce plants treated with florescent light; the chlorophyll a/b ratio and carotenoid content increased under blue-containing LED lights", the researchers wrote. Polyphenol contents and the total antioxidant status were greater in lettuce seedlings treated with blue-containing LED lights than in those treated with florescent light at 17 DAS.
The scientists concluded that raising seedlings treated with blue light promoted the growth of lettuce plants after transplanting. "This is likely because of high shoot and root biomasses, a high content of photosynthetic pigments, and high antioxidant activities in the lettuce seedlings before transplanting. The compact morphology of lettuce seedlings treated with blue LED light would be also useful for transplanting", noted corresponding author Kazuhiro Shoji.
More information: The complete study and abstract are available on the ASHS HortScience electronic journal web site: hortsci.ashspublications.org/c … /abstract/45/12/1809
Provided by American Society for Horticultural Science


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BAGHDAD » Iraq's president snubbed incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and picked another politician to form the next government Monday, setting up a fierce political power struggle even as the country battles extremists in the north and west.
The showdown came as the United States increased its role in fighting back Sunni extremists of the Islamic State group that is threatening the autonomous Kurdish region in the north. Senior American officials said U.S. intelligence agencies are directly arming the Kurds who are battling the militants in what would be a shift in Washington's policy of only working through the central government in Baghdad.
U.S. warplanes carried out new strikes Sunday, hitting a convoy of Sunni militants moving to attack Kurdish forces defending the autonomous zone's capital, Irbil. The recent American airstrikes have helped the Kurds achieve one of their first victories after weeks of retreat as peshmerga fighters over the weekend recaptured two towns near Irbil. The Pentagon's director of operations said the effort will do little to slow Islamic State militants overall.
Haider al-Ibadi, the deputy speaker of parliament from al-Maliki's Shiite Dawa party, was selected by President Fouad Massoum to be the new prime minister and was given 30 days to present a new government to lawmakers for approval.
Al-Maliki has defiantly rejected the nomination. In a speech after midnight Sunday, he accused Massoum of blocking his reappointment as prime minister and carrying out "a coup against the constitution and the political process."
In another speech broadcast Monday night, al-Maliki insisted al-Ibadi's nomination "runs against the constitutional procedures" and he accused the United States of siding with political forces "who have violated the constitution."
"Today, we are facing a grave constitutional breach and we have appealed and we have the proof that we are the largest bloc," al-Maliki said.
"We assure all the Iraqi people and the political groups that there is no importance or value to this nomination," he added.
But despite angrily insisting he should be nominated for a third term, al-Maliki has lost some support with the main coalition of Shiite parties. His critics say al-Maliki contributed to Iraq's political crisis by monopolizing power and pursuing a sectarian agenda that alienated the country's Sunni and Kurdish minorities.
The nomination of al-Ibadi came hours after al-Maliki deployed his elite security forces in the streets of Baghdad. Hundreds of his supporters were escorted to a popular rally site by military trucks, raising fears that he might try to use force to stay in power.
"We are with you, al-Maliki," they shouted, waving posters of him as they sang and danced.
Al-Ibadi, the former minister of communications from 2003-04, pledged to form a government to "protect the Iraqi people." He was nominated after receiving the majority of votes from lawmakers within the Iraqi National Alliance, a coalition of Shiite parties.
A peaceful transition is looking increasingly unlikely, given al-Maliki's reputation for having replaced many senior Sunni officers with less-experienced, more loyal Shiite officers.
"One of the major concerns (the U.S.) had in 2010 is the degree to which al-Maliki was trying to coup-proof his military," said Richard Brennan, an expert on Iraqi special forces at Rand Corporation and former U.S. Department of Defense policymaker. "The U.S. worked hard with the military to make them understand that loyalty had to be to country, not to al-Maliki, but al-Maliki cut the forces to replace competent people with less-competent people loyal to him."
Vice President Joe Biden called Massoum to commend him for meeting a "key milestone" in nominating al-Ibadi. Prior to al-Ibadi's appointment, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in Sydney "there should be no use of force, no introduction of troops or militias into this moment of democracy for Iraq."
Kerry added a new government "is critical in terms of sustaining the stability and calm in Iraq," and that "our hope is that Mr. Maliki will not stir those waters."
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who has expressed fears that Iraq will fragment unless al-Maliki leaves power, expressed his concern about the political crisis in Baghdad in a call with newly elected Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
"It is important for Iran that a person approved by a majority of the representatives of the people in the Iraqi parliament takes power and begins his legal actions in Iraq."
The U.S. weapons being directly sent to Irbil are very limited in scope and number, and mostly consist of light arms like AK-47s and ammunition, a Kurdish government official and a senior Pentagon official said.
The Kurdish official said the weapons are being sent through U.S. intelligence agencies, and not the Pentagon or the State Department. Lt. Gen. William Mayville, the operations director for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the Pentagon was looking at other ways to help the Kurds.
But the Kurdish official said the U.S. lethal aid is still not enough to battle the militants, even though peshmerga and other Kurdish forces were supplemented with similar munitions from Baghdad over the weekend. Neither official was authorized to discuss the U.S. arms by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.
U.S. airstrikes have reinvigorated Iraqi Kurdish forces battling the Islamic State and on Sunday, the Kurdish peshmerga fighters retook two towns — Makhmour and al-Gweir, some 28 miles (45 kilometers) from Irbil — from the Sunni militants in what was one of their first victories after weeks of retreat.
The successes were balanced out, however, by news of a defeat in the far eastern Diyala province where Kurdish forces were driven out of the town of Jalula after fierce fighting against the militants. The militants blasted their way into the town using a truck bomb followed up with several suicide bombers on foot, said a police officer and an army official, adding that at least 14 Kurdish fighters were killed.
President Barack Obama warned Saturday the new campaign in Iraq requires military and political changes and "is going to be a long-term project."
The move to directly arm the Kurds underscores the level of U.S. concern about the Islamic State's gains — particularly at a time when there is such significant turmoil within the central government in Baghdad.
Turkey has warned al-Maliki that his actions threaten to deepen a crisis in Iraq and called on him to support Massoum and urged lawmakers to avoid actions that "deepen the turmoil in Iraq."
In recent months, support for al-Maliki has waned, not only among politicians, but also from Iraq's Shiite religious establishment and particularly, its most revered cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who is closely linked with Iraq's biggest ally, Iran.
Disunity is not exclusive to the Shiite coalition, however. Sunni political parties, once-superior under ousted leader Saddam Hussein, have also been at odds in recent months as they try to reassert themselves in al-Maliki's government while distancing themselves from the Sunni militant onslaught that has killed thousands.
It also has displaced more than 1.2 million people, said Kieran Dwyer, spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
"All of this amounts to a humanitarian catastrophe," Dwyer told reporters by phone from Irbil.
U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Rajiv Shah said the team will help speed food, water and other life-saving supplies to Iraqis. Much of the assistance will go to thousands of members of an Iraqi religious minority group known as Yazidis who have been trapped on a mountaintop in northwest Iraq to escape certain death by Sunni militants with the Islamic State group.
While violence has straddled the Syrian-Iraqi border in recent months and seeped deep into the heart of some of Iraq's most ancient and strategically located cities, some are warning that if a political solution is not found soon, Baghdad risks getting drawn into the war.
"Iraq could become a tale of two prime ministers, each claiming to have the constitution supporting their claim," said Ramzy Mardini, an Iraq expert with the Washington-based Atlantic Council. "It will either end by legal venue or by conflict."


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When Affiance was in the studio earlier this year, the Cleveland-based metal band brought a video camera along to document the recording process of their upcoming album.
Fans might be surprised to see some of the techniques Affiance used to create the follow-up to 2012's The Campaign, too.
In one of the behind-the-scenes looks, guitarist Dominic Dickinson takes a power drill to his Charvel Desolation Soloist. Does it survive? You'll have to watch the clip after the jump to find out.


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Please Don't Be Intimidated By This Vast Collection of Profitable Resources I've Assembled For You...
Before you begin investing time, trust and attention reading, watching, listening to all the resources I'm gifting here... I've included a collection of testimonials and endorsement letters to help you feel comfortable with the commitment you're making to me and my body of work. Consider them part of your due diligence process.
Certainly those of you considering the possibility of working more directly with me will appreciate these letters. If you are already familiar with my library of work and would just like to review what is being gifted to you, please scroll down and continue reading or simply enter your name and email in the form below to proceed directly to the download page.
But everyone feeling uncertain, apprehensive and worried about the future may find comfort in knowing these ideas really work.
Considered by many CEO's, entrepreneurs, best selling authors, business coaches & consultants and other marketing experts to be "One of The Greatest Marketing Minds and Business Growth
What The Experts Say...
"Jay is probably the greatest marketing mind alive today."
-Success Magazine "He's one of the best market conceptualists in the country." -Entrepreneur Magazine
"Jay knows how to get maximum results from minimum effort." -Investors Business Daily
"He gets businesses going and growing again."
-USA Today "Jay is a specialist at turning under performing corporations into sales and marketing whizzes."
-Forbes Magazine "Jay Abraham is one of the greatest business and marketing minds I've ever known."
-Steven Covey |
Hear the Truth For Yourself...
Tony Robbins says: "He's amazing, phenomenal, remarkable. The Foremost Growth Strategist For Small and Large Companies in The World. A True Marketing Master."
Listen: Alternative content Brian Tracy discusses Jay's track record compared to his own...
Listen: Alternative content Hall of Fame Quarterback, legendary entrepreneur, Fran Tarkenton talks about this Hall of fame business builder.
Listen: Alternative content T. Harv Eker Introduces Jay at one of his events...
Listen: Alternative content |
Read More Endorsements..
Would you like to read actual letter about me written by a founder of Federal Express, the former key executive of Franklin-Covey (Stephen Covey's company), the past editor-in-chief of Success Magazine, the head of Nightingale-Conant and two other prominent CEO's. Click here. Also (and obviously you may have already done this) check my reputation and brand currency on-line, be it at Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. Also, of course, see how my books are reviewed at Amazon.com |
There's no obligation, expectation or commitment, whatsoever, necessary. You'll receive instant access to ALL the above resource selections. You can download them at your convenience. Plus, I've taken the liberty of describing the relevance and priority of each one. Choose any or all you'd like. I'll leave them up and available to you for the next 45 days so you don't feel forced to download a huge amount of stuff and never get around to using it.
elcome to my world of non-linear business building, possibility thinking, performance enhancement, multiplied sales, increased profits and preeminent/preemptive competitive advantage.
I'd like to help you "cut through" the theory and get right down to the crux of what I do, how I do it, why it frequently produces such stunning profit performance impact. I've also provided specific case study examples of my successful work and strategic accomplishments -- This will help you see how and why my methods and strategies deliver such powerful impact.
Below you will find a complete list (with clear-cut explanation) of each of the resources I'm gifting to you. You will also see that I have provided a syllabus of what I recommend you study and in what order. This is to help you avoid information overload or missing out on a critical connection.
Towards that end, please don't stress about the need to download everything right now or lose access to it. I don't want anyone overwhelmed or stressed about how to use these important resources to your maximum advantage.
Once you register, the download page will be accessible to you for at least 45 days. That way you can progress through this collection (and download different elements) at the pace that's best for your situation.
Also, you'll receive dispatches I'm sending out periodically to my own Inside Group. They consent of eclectic insights, fresh original perspectives, strategic realizations, unique interpretations and stimulating/provocative musings I have on the business and competitive landscape.
We call it "Your Marketing Genius at Work" and it's very thought provoking reading. You're always welcome to unsubscribe. But these never sell anything. Occasionally, I talk about things I'm doing, places I'm traveling to or fascinating, interesting people I'm collaborating with. Sometimes I'll talk about things that favorably impress me - - or things that don't. But the entire purpose is to provide provocative observations, clinically analytical and highly relevant interpretive perspectives. It's not self-serving. See if you like it. If not, unsubscribe. Either way, there's no cost or catch.
If, after carefully reviewing the various documents, audio's or videos below (totally gratis), you feel we might be a good match, I'd love to talk personally with you a few minutes about your business, its challenges, issues, frustrations... and of course, opportunities. (At the end of this page I'll explain more about working with me directly)
New Gifts We Just Added:
Discovering the Greatness Within You - Interview of Jay by Nightingale-Conant (audio and transcript).
Willie Jolley - Fun, fascinating interview Jay did with Hall of Fame speaker for his nationally broadcast Sirius radio, talk show.
More Gifts For You:
The Strategy of Preeminence - this is the foundation of all I stand for. Actually, it's both a strategic philosophy and a philosophical strategy for operating a preeminent business.
I learned it from a client who used this belief system to hurtle their company to dominant leadership in an ultra-competitive industry. More interestingly, they out-sold their closest competition by 40% and had margins 35% higher. This "mini-collection" explains how they did it - how I do it - how YOU can do it, too!
This strategy should become the underpinning of your culture, hiring, marketing, client interaction - everything should flow from this powerful belief system and new world business view.
You receive three components: One, a transcription of a live discussion I did of the concept to a huge conference group. Two, the key belief points to always focus on. Three, 2 videos I did to seperate groups, one several years ago and one this year. Four, a "Cliff's notes" document containg the most important points for you to focus on.. This should be next in your progression cycle.
My interview of Stephen R. Covey on "Effectiveness". Stephen R. Covey is author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. I conducted a deeply penetrating interview with him where he invested over 90-minutes answering my "hot potato" questions about effectiveness. I've taken the interview and had it carefully transcribed for you so it's easy for you to read and learn from.
This is a one-of-its-kind "Collector-Worthy" compendium of deep, penetrating, Socratic interviews I personally conducted in the last two months with six legendary Super Stars of business, sports, entertainment, arts and entrepreneurship.
Rather than see the electric ideas I "mined" out of each legend's mammoth brain go unused--I took each unabridged full-length interview (averaging one & a half non-stop hours/15-20 transcribed pages each), combined them ALL together into one wildly enriching compendium--totaling 100 pages of rich wisdom, exceptional insights and rarely discussed fresh "slants"....on business, life, personal performance, competing masterfully...and so much more.
If you've ever wondered what kinds of things keep me up at night... what kind of pressing issues I so desperately want to find easier, better, quicker, more efficient solutions for that will help YOU -- the hard working entrepreneur -- so you can make a significant difference in your life, the life of your customers, the life of your team and ultimately your family's life, then you'll want to download and consume this series of 8 philosophical journeys thru the deep recesses of my constantly probing mind.
Here is a recent presentation I did for some of the world's top Speakers, Authors and entrepreneurs at SANG - the Speaker and Authors Networking Group which is an annual gathering of some of the top minds in the media and publishing world.
In October I shook up the minds and challenged attendees of SANG - The Speaker and Authors Networking Group to "The Ultimate 45 Minute Reality Check."
Explaining - Comparing - Describing what he did on that stage in less than an hour is difficult. Suffice it to say that in that period, Jay only talked a total of, maybe, 17 minutes... but what he got the highest performing minds in the room to confront, then do, then share was... well, it was utterly incomparable to any reference model I could describe. So I want to share the entire, unhedged/unabridged 45 minutes of video footage - I promise you'll find it wildly stimulating.
Listen in on this unique presentation I gave for the folks at Kinder Reese and discover what I really think of Steve Jobs and my surprising revelation of what the key to his success truly was!
Then watch me interview the owners of the company, Jay Kinder and Michael Reese, about how they built their agency. Then watch me interview their top sales people - the high performers - who reveal the distinctions that helped them rise to the top of the sales charts!
Back when I conducted those $15,000-$20,000 per person Protégé-Mentor programs - I spent the first four hours of the first day of EVERY five-day event - painstakingly sharing with attendees exactly/precisely and in stage-by-stage steps, activity-by-activity - exactly how I went from Jay Abraham, young, unknown, up-and-coming marketing "aspirant," to media-dubbed "Marketing Genius-Extraordinaire."
I shared my life in marketing (up to that freeze-frame point in time), BECAUSE I felt it would best demonstrate and connect the dots for people (like you) on how vitally important it is to travel outside your industry -- or your current reference sphere -- to expand your perspective, to enhance your comprehension, to liberate your sense of possibility - to empower you to never again get stuck.
I want you to watch the same four-hour segment I mandated that everyone attending my five-day $15,000-$20,000 protégé-mentor live program experience. I promise you'll be impacted meaningfully by watching this video.
This is a wonderful e-book a partner of ours created on "How to be Your Own Headhunter." Simply put, he's a world-famous headhunter we have an interest in. But he knows that well-skilled people like many of you - deserve a far better career future - if you're not going to start your own business, right now.
So he created a one-of-a-kind book to guide you on do-it-yourself, masterful headhunting.
Think of it as having a six-figure headhunter on your shoulder guiding you through the moves and maneuvers required to secure the premier of career positions - in an economy that sucks. It's a great, self-directing instruction that sells nothing.
We created the concept of a "Sales Vortex" - rather than a mere sales funnel. The idea here is that once someone is in it - they are honorably, ethically, authentically - but stunningly - automatically, continuously, progressively "advanced and enhanced" forward - until ultimately they transact business or passionately influencesomeone else who CAN transact business with you.
Take your time, move progressively through elements at your own pace. You are certainly welcome to download everything all at once.
But you can also calmly, patiently, progressively move through one segment/element at a time -- since I'm keeping this private landing page up (and accessible) to all subscribers for 45 days.
Also, feel free to share these resources with anybody/everybody within your organization that might be benefited -- (or who will benefit you) by understanding these ideas first-hand.
My investment here is long-term. I want you to richly benefit from these resources -- irrespective of whether you ever become a client or not.
I've found it's good business to generously invest in quality business owners, entrepreneurs and CEO's... I'm certain it will come back to me in the future.
By the way, anyone wanting to explore the possibility of a direct, long or short-term advisory relationship with me -- particularly the type I call a "Profit Partnership" -- where I mostly only profit on performance -- please visit http://www.abraham.com/profitpartner.
I hope these resources stretch your sense of possibilities, animate your sense of how much more is truly possible for your business. And open up a vast array of opportunities you've previously overlooked. I promise the materials you're about to receive and my future performance enhancement education I'm gifting here WILL NOT disappoint.
Jay Abraham
P.S. If your review of these resources stimulates you to want a direct connection with me, you can either arrange a highly professional marketing makeover/strategy restructuring - - - a short-term problem-solving session with me. Or we can carefully discuss and explore the merits of a long-term, mostly (or fully) performance-based/profit-sharing consulting relationship.
Here I would provide ongoing advice, strategy, guidance, direction, mastermind your marketing/selling strategy, review and revise your business model and reposition your positioning message/competitive positioning if required -- and participate in the meaningful, long-term profit improvements my contributions produce. (You can explore both ways of working with me - without obligation or commitment on you part.) Simply visit http://www.abraham.com/profitpartner to request an interview with me.


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Frame :accept-values panes are used when you want one of the panes of your application to be in the form of an accepting-values dialog.
There are several things to remember when using an :accept-values pane in your application frame:
For an :accept-values pane to work, your frame's command table must inherit from the accept-values-pane command table.
The :display-function option for an :accepting-values pane will typically be something like:
:displayer my-acceptor-function)
is a function that you write. It contains calls to
just as they would appear inside a
for a dialog. It takes two arguments, the frame and a stream.
doesn't need to call
itself, since that is done automatically.
See Chapter 12, Menus and Dialogs especially the function accept-values-pane-displayer .
While inside the display function for an :accept-values pane, *application-frame* is not bound to your application. Instead, it is bound to an application that implements accepting-values . Therefore, you cannot use with-frame-state-variables in the display function for an :accept-values pane. Use with-slots on the frame argument instead.
Don't use : display-after-commands with :accept-values panes, because the redisplay for those panes is managed at a slightly lower level for efficiency.


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Pedro II
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- Original name:
- Dom Pedro de Alcântara
- Born:
- Dec. 2, 1825, Rio de Janeiro, Braz.
- Title / Office:
- emperor (1831-1889), Brazil
- Role In:
- War of the Triple Alliance
Pedro II (born Dec. 2, 1825, Rio de Janeiro, Braz.—died Dec. 5, 1891, Paris, France) second and last emperor of Brazil (1831–89), whose benevolent and popular reign lasted nearly 50 years.
On April 7, 1831, when he was five years old, his father, Pedro I (Pedro, or Peter, IV of Portugal), abdicated in his favour; and for nine years Brazil was governed by a turbulent regency. To restore political stability, Pedro was declared of age on July 23, 1840, and crowned emperor on July 18, 1841. Although the disturbances in the provinces that had plagued the regency continued for the next five years, the young emperor's intellectual curiosity and profound concern for his subjects soon became apparent. He considered himself the arbiter of Brazil's political life, and he used the power granted him by the constitution to regulate the antagonistic groups that sought to dominate the country. He was greatly aided in this activity by the support offered by the country's dominant military figure, the duke of Caxias (Luiz Alves de Lima e Silva). The first Brazilian monarch to be born in Brazil, Pedro guarded his country's sovereignty in disputes with Great Britain and the United States. He led Brazil into the War of the Triple Alliance against Paraguay (1864–70), gaining new territory and prestige for Brazil.
The rule of Pedro II, a calm, serious, and intelligent man, brought stability and progress to the troubled economy. He encouraged coffee production instead of sugar, and under his guidance Brazil made significant gains in railroad, telegraph, and cable construction. As a result of his leadership, he enjoyed almost unqualified support for 40 years.
During Pedro's 49-year reign, he presided over 36 different cabinets, most of which received and merited public support, as Pedro was generally served by excellent councillors and ministers. By astutely alternating support for the Liberal and Conservative parties, he ensured that both enjoyed a roughly equal amount of time in power, and he provided orderly, nonviolent transitions between them. Both parties, however, represented the landholding oligarchy, and, as a result, issues that affected other sectors of Brazilian society were often hedged.
Thus, despite Pedro's generally benign and progressive leadership, by the end of his reign his support had weakened. The crucial issue was the abolition of slavery. Personally opposed to slavery (he had freed his own slaves in 1840), Pedro felt that abolition in the agriculturally based Brazilian economy would have to occur gradually so as not to upset the landowners. When complete emancipation was at last decreed (1888), with his daughter Isabel acting as regent, 700,000 slaves were freed, and no provision was made for compensation to the owners. Pedro also had strained relations with the Roman Catholic church after 1872 because of his opposition to the anti-Masonic laws passed by the church. In addition, the emperor, who represented the colonial countryside and landed classes, found himself removed from increasingly powerful elements in society, particularly the emerging urban middle class and the military. These and other factors combined to bring about his downfall. On Nov. 15, 1889, a military coup forced him to abdicate. The royal family went into exile in Europe. His remains and those of his wife were returned to Brazil in 1920 and placed in a chapel in the city of Petrópolis, named in his honour.


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Santa Monica wants to build a new fire station to replace an aging one in the downtown area, but instead of purchasing a plot of land to make it happen, City Hall has found a potential partner to do a land swap. By doing so, City Hall could potentially save millions of dollars.
It was a deal council members unanimously approved Aug. 14 for City staff to pursue.
Under terms of the proposed deal, three parcels of land located at 1337 to 1347 Seventh Street would be exchanged for City-owned property at 1338 to 1342 Fifth Street.
The seller's property on Seventh Street is owned by 1337 7th Street LLC and was valued by an independent appraiser to have a market value of $7,875,000. Conversely, the City-owned property was appraised at $8,050,000. Accordingly, the seller would pay the difference of $175,000 to City Hall.
"The approval of the Resolution and authorization of the exchange provides an opportunity for the City to secure a site that meets the City's current and long-term requirements for a new fire station that will serve downtown and the northwestern portion of Santa Monica," City staff said.
Fire Station No. 1 is currently located at 1444 Seventh Street in downtown and was built there in 1955. City Hall stated the station must undergo seismic retrofitting and other upgrades but the size of the land that it sits upon may not be suitable for a more modern facility.
Andy Agle, the City's director of housing and economic development, said the current Fire Station No. 1 will not be serviceable much longer and a new station must be built soon in its place.
"The current fire station located on Seventh Street south of Santa Monica is nearing the end of its useful life and no longer meets current seismic and accessibility requirements," Agle told the council. "Staff considered rebuilding a facility on the existing site but it's too small to accommodate current firefighting needs."
During public comment, there was concern of whether it was the developer, not the City, who received the best deal possible in the land swap.
A portion of the proposed land swap agreement would allow NMS Properties to purchase up to 100 monthly market rate parking spaces at the Main Library for a period of 10 years with two five-year options.
According to City staff, there are 525 total parking spaces in the Main Library's parking structure of which, during peak occupancy, about 200 are available at any given time.
In pursuing this option, three members of the public – including a city council candidate – questioned whether the developer involved in this proposed land swap deal might be forgoing an obligation to build underground parking, ergo saving them millions of dollars.
"I think there is a better deal possible when it helps the City of Santa Monica more than it would help the developer. I think we should try to negotiate a better deal on this project," council candidate John C. Smith said. "We need a fire station, but why the parking? Why does the parking have to enter into this deal? Why 100 spaces? Why 10 years."
City staff responded that no obligations were forgone in crafting the proposed land swap deal.
According to Agle, said land in the area where Fire Station 1 would be built may be valued as much as $8 million. Considering the City's limited financial resources in light of the dissolution of redevelopment, obtaining the land to build a new fire station via eminent domain or a traditional property transaction would be painstakingly difficult.
"This presents a great opportunity to not further dig into our resources to create property that would work for the fire station," Agle added.
NMS Properties, Inc., was the sole respondent to City Hall's Request for Proposals "for a new site suitable to build a replacement facility for Fire Station No. 1."
If all goes as planned, the new Fire Station No. 1 may open in 2016.


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This specification was originally written for the Turbine 2.1 release. While it still holds true for Turbine 2.3 in many parts, it might be outdated in details. It should serve to give you a "broad" view of the Turbine framework, not a detailed description how things work. Turbine 2.4 uses a very different concept, so this specification no longer applies to it.
Turbine is made up of five different modules which serve a specific service within the Turbine framework. In order for the reader to understand the general flow of the Turbine framework, each of these modules is explained in detail below.
The Action module represents a chunk of code that performs task. For example, when a user submits an Html form, one of the hidden fields is which Action to execute in order to process the form information. The processing generally includes form validation as well as storing the form information into a database. The Page is responsible for executing the Action before the Screen is executed. That way, the Action can help determine which Screen is executed depending on the results of the Action.
The process looks like this:
HTTP Client -> | Execute Turbine Servlet -> | Execute Page -> | Execute Layout/Screen/Navigation -> | Return Page Content |
If Action is defined then... | ||||
Execute Action |
This model makes it really easy to separate the POST (GET works here as well) data processing into component modules that can be re-used. For instance, the Action "Logout" can be re-used from a number of different points in the system. It performs one single function and performs it well. The advantage of this type of behavior is that it prevents you from putting logic for handling form data into your servlets. This is great for those of you who want to integrate EJB's into Turbine because your Action's can simply make calls to your EJB's to process business logic.
The Page module is the first module in the chain of execution for the Page generation. It is considered to be the module which contains the rest of the modules (Action, Layout, Screen and Navigation). The Page module checks to see if there has been an Action defined in the request. If so, it attempts to execute that Action. After the Action has been executed, it asks the set Screen object for its Layout. Page then attempts to execute the Layout object which the Screen returned. Please note that the Action module can modify which Screen is executed. Also note that the Screen module has the option to override the Layout setting which defaults to "DefaultLayout." (Note: the DefaultLayout value is actually defined in the TurbineResources.properties file. This way, it is a simple property change instead of having to re-compile the Turbine code for your own purposes.
The Screen module is essentially considered the "body" of the webpage. The Layout module executes the Screen module. This is where the Html of the page is generated. It is entirely possible to call external code here. For example, you can call an EJB to provide you some business data which is then transformed using a tool such as Cocoon to render the business data into HTML which is then transfered to the client.
A website generally has a top and bottom navigation scheme. This is generally defined as the header and footer of the website. The Navigation is executed by the Layout. There may be multiple Navigation modules that the Layout executes (ie: the side, top and bottom parts of the page). Since it is generally common for multiple webpages to contain the same navigation, it is most common to define different Layouts for screens with very different Navigations. The advantage of using a system like this is that you can have multiple Navigations that are conditionally included and excluded in the Layout. Like Screens, the Navigation modules can also call out to external code, such as EJB's to get the business logic that is responsible for rendering the Html that is sent to the browser.
The Layout module is called from the Page module. This modules defines the physical Layout of a webpage. It generally defines the location of the Navigation portion (ie: the top and bottom part of the webpage) as well as the location of where the body (or Screen) of the page is. The Layout module executes the Screen module to build the body of the webpage. It executes the Navigation modules to build the portions of the webpage which define the navigation for the website.
Module object Encapsulation
The loaders are responsible for dynamicially loading each of the five modules. These loaders have an option to cache the module objects in memory for extremely fast loading times.
The loaders use intelligent factories in that we have added a property to TurbineResources.properties that allows you to define the "Loader Classpath". In other words, it is possible to physicially keep all of your web applications modules in their own package classpath and the loaders will be responsible for finding the right file to execute.
This feature is great because it allows you to upgrade the core Turbine framework without having to make any modifications to your existing code! It also allows you to simply distribute your web application as a standalone system and then have your users download the Turbine framework as a separate requirement. Then, multiple web applications can be combined to form a complete system.
Note that each of the modules must be multithread safe since multiple threads may try to execute a single module at the exact same time. These rules apply to general servlet programming so they are not that difficult to understand. The basic rule is to not try to define any class global variables within each of the modules unless it has been wrapped in a syncronized statement.
Each of the loaders mentioned makes use of one or more factories to create the different modules. By default the only factory that is enabled is the Java factory that creates requested modules from java class files.
You can easily create your own factories by implementing a simple interface and registering them in the TurbineResource.properities. This allows you a lot of flexibility in the sense that you can load Turbine modules from any source that is able to provide you with a java object, for example an RMI server or scripting options like Rhino and JPython. Keep in mind that factories must be thread-save (the same applies to modules).
System Flow
When a new request comes in, the Turbine servlet first checks to make sure that a ServletAPI HttpSession object exists for the user making the request. If this HttpSession object does not exist, a Http redirect header is returned that redirects the browser to the "homepage" of the website (by default it is the "Login" screen and this can be configured via the TurbineResources.properties file). This redirect attempts to set a cookie that is unique for the visitor. If the cookie is not accepted, it will not be returned in the new request for the "homepage" and thus further session tracking will happen with modified URL's that contain the session information within them.
Note: If you do not wish to require the user to login to the system with a username and password before executing the pages, then set the "Login" screen to be something else. This is done in the Turbine Servlet under the data.session.isNew() check. Until the user actually logs in, it is only possible to store temporary data for that users session. When the user logs in, it is possible to store permant information by simply putting data into a hashtable. The implementation of the User object (ie: TurbineUser) in the framework takes care of the issues involved with serializing that information to a resource such as a database or file on the hard disk.
After a session with the user has been established, Turbine caches a few frequently used pieces of data in the RunData object. This object is created for each and every request and is passed around the system in order to provide all of the modules with access to request specific information such as a database connection, GET/POST/PATH_INFO (GPP) data (via the ParametersParser object), the Action and Screen names (made available from the GPP data), and the Document object where you put your Html output. The RunData object should never be stored in a global context because it is not multithread safe and each of the modules is expected to be multithread safe. Also, the RunData object may or may not contain information that should be persistent across requests.
The Turbine servlet then checks to see if a user is attempting to Login to the system by looking at the defined Action and checking to see if the value is "LoginUser." If so, it will execute the "LoginUser" action (again, the action to execute here can be defined in the TurbineResources.properties file). Within this action, it is the coders responsibility to define the procedure for authenticating the user with the validateUser() method. This will probably mean validating the username and password against a database. The abstraction of Action modules makes it easily possible to have multiple authentication methods.
Once the user has been validated (the RunData.save() method has been called) or not validated, then the SessionValidator action is executed from within the Turbine servlet. The SessionValidator action checks to see if a user has been logged in. If the user has not been logged in, then the Screen is set to be the "Login" screen. If not, then the users last access datestamp is updated. If you would like to allow the user to view multiple pages without the need to login first, you will need to implement your own version of SessionValidator that just returns nothing as a result. Then, for the pages that you will want to make secure, you should define a Layout that executes the SessionValidator action to make things secure. Then, your Screens should call that "secure" Layout.
Next, the "DefaultPage" page is executed by the Turbine servlet. The "DefaultPage" starts a chain of events that eventually leads to a complete webpage development. First, the DefaultPage attempts to see if an Action has been defined. If so, then it attempts to execute that Action. See the definition of Action and Page above for more information. After the Action has been executed, the Screen is then asked for its Layout and the Layout is then executed.
It is the Layouts responsibility to then execute the Navigation and requested Screen. After the Layout has executed its parts, it is finished and control is returned to the Turbine servlet which then sends out the page information.
Access Control Lists and User Permissions
We have provided a beautiful system (because it is so simple and powerful) for controlling what a User is allowed to do and not allowed to do. It is based on the following concepts:
One or more Roles are assigned to a User. A Role is a collection of one or more Permission's. The AccessControlList uses an AccessControlBuilder that allows you to determine whether or not a User has a Permission to do something or not.
Thus, a User can have both the "Admin" and "Guest" Role. Within those Roles are the sets of Permissions that are allowed. In the "Admin" Role, one might have the Permission, "Edit Users". Then, it is simple to use the AccessControlList to check to see if the User has the permission "Edit Users" or if the User has the Role "Admin", in which case, it does not matter what the Permissions are.
You will then use this system within any of modules to determine whether or not to execute some code. This will provide you with both a Page level of security (does the User have access to this page) as well as a Content level of security (does the User have access to see the content on this page, ie: hide/show content based on what Role the User is).
Exception Handling
During execution, if at any time an exception is raised, the Turbine servlet catches that exception and attempts to execute the "DefaultPage" with the Screen set to be "Error". This is a simple debugging screen which displays a java stack trace as well as any CGI environment variables that have been set. It is possible to modify this Screen to display anything that you wish as well as define an alternative error screen within your web application via the TurbineResources.properties file. The idea is that all errors can be trapped in one location in order to make debugging as simple as possible as well as provide a consistent error interface to the users.
Utility Code
There is a number of utility classes included with Turbine.
The Database pooling classes are helpful for defining the methods for obtaining a connection to the database. This code is implemented as a singleton system so that all you need to do is get an instance of the database class, get a connection and go. There is no need to pass around a Connection object. Turbine comes with pool implementations for many of the most popular databases. Creating your own is quite simple as well, all you need to do is look at the existing code and create your own. By default Torque is used as ORM-Mapper, find more info here. If you need help or want someone to create one for your database, simply ask on the mailing list.
The *Peer classes are a great idea on how to abstract the database accesses so that all you need to do is pass in a Criteria object and execute doInsert(), doSelect(), doUpdate() or doDelete(). While not necessarily part of the Turbine framework, because each implementation is different depending on your needs, it is a great model to work from. Take a look at the TurbineUserPeer.java file for a good example of this methodology in use.
The ParameterParser class takes all of the GET/POST/PATH_INFO data and parses it into a hashtable where it can be easily retrieved in a number of forms with the provided get* methods. This is how you can have access to form data that has been posted by a users web browser.
The DynamicURI class should be used whenever a URI is needed within the system. Each portion of a URI can be defined in order to produce a custom URI that also includes the session tracking information if it exists. It is highly recommended that you use this class for generating all of your URI's for your application because it will allow you to easily add global functionality to your system.
The Mail classes make it easy to send email via the JavaMail API's. These classes are just very simple classes and there is not a huge amount of functionality here. Essentially they allow you to get the job done and that is about it. Contributions to improve these classes are appreciated.